


The Art of Writing

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Series: Think Outside the Love Square [8]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, One sided reveal, implied marc/nathaniel, it's marc appreciation week on tumblr, like kinda, they crushing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: “Right, okay, but…but this sketch,” Marc stammered, flipping a few pages in and spinning the book, pressing it under the lamp light. “It’s only half done, right? Mask is barely sketched.”“Well yeah, I only had time for the outline before math class,” Nathaniel agreed, glancing down at where Marc was pointing and then looking back to Marc.Marc saw the moment it dawned on him, the way his eyes shot back to the page and grew wide. Nath dropped his bag and scrambled for a pencil in the side pocket, ripping it out. His fingers flew over the outlines of Ladybug’s face, foregoing the mask, focusing on the hair, the eyes, the nose, the lips. Darkening edges, filling in the hair.When he pulled his hand away, Marinette stared back at them.





	The Art of Writing

**Author's Note:**

> What UP it's Marc appreciation week and I wanted to appreciate my boy, his crush, and the fact that they're LITERALLY drawing Marinette and everyone else in a mask every day all day. 
> 
> Marc is an awkward trans gay and I love him I need to write him more

Marc paced in front of Mlle. Bustier’s classroom anxiously, flipping back through the latest pages of his and Nath’s most recent comic, outlined and drafted, but nowhere near done. The bell seemed to take forever to ring, and when it did, he bounced out of the way of the door, ducking his head shyly and nodding to the classmates who waved and said hello to him as they passed. 

Marinette perked up when she saw him, lifting her hand politely, and Marc choked a little, lowering his eyes and managing a weak smile. He knew she looked at him weirdly for it, but Alya’s cries of “Hurry up, Marinette, we’ll be late for gym!” forced her to move on. 

He grabbed Nathaniel's wrist as the boy started to pass, pulling him out of the wave of students and into a quieter part of the hall. “Do you have a second?” Marc asked, a bit breathless. He was still holding Nath’s wrist, and he dropped it quickly, cheeks burning. 

Nathaniel looked at him oddly but tilted his head. “Yeah, sure. I have study hall this period. Art room?” 

Marc shifted on his feet. “I…I think it needs to be more private. Come on.” 

He led his way through the students switching classes, checking every now and again to make sure Nathaniel was actually following him, and ducked into the school theater, reserved for plays, musicals, and the occasional assembly. It was quiet right now, save for the janitor on stage sweeping, but he was far enough away that Marc wasn’t concerned. 

“Marc? What’s going on?” 

Marc walked over to the ticket desk, clicking on the tiny light that resided on the top, and set his bag down on the floor before slapping down their half-done comic. “So I was going through, adjusting some of the phrasing on one of Ladybug’s lines – it felt awkward, you know? – and I…Nath, who do you use as a reference for Ladybug’s poses?” 

Nathaniel looked at him like he was crazy, and Marc didn’t blame him. “Ladybug, of course. Alya only has about a thousand pictures of her and Chat Noir on the Ladyblog, it’s not hard to find photos of them.” 

“Right, okay, but…but this sketch,” Marc stammered, flipping a few pages in and spinning the book, pressing it under the lamp light. “It’s only half done, right? Mask is barely sketched.” 

“Well yeah, I only had time for the outline before math class,” Nathaniel agreed, glancing down at where Marc was pointing and then looking back to Marc. 

Marc saw the moment it dawned on him, the way his eyes shot back to the page and grew wide. Nath dropped his bag and scrambled for a pencil in the side pocket, ripping it out. His fingers flew over the outlines of Ladybug’s face, foregoing the mask, focusing on the hair, the eyes, the nose, the lips. Darkening edges, filling in the hair. 

When he pulled his hand away, Marinette stared back at them. 

“No way,” Nathaniel breathed. 

He pulled out his phone, dragged up the class photo, zoomed in on Marinette’s face, and set them side by side. Perfect match. He drew up a photo of Ladybug next, from Alya’s blog. Without the mask on the drawing, the real life picture was suddenly much clearer. 

“No _way,”_ Nathaniel managed again. 

“That’s uh…that’s not all,” Marc squeaked. 

He turned the page to a half-done outline of Chat Noir and Carapace, back to back, a tribute they had been working on since the Heroes Day events. Nath didn’t even need to stare for long before nodding, his jaw slowly lowering to his shoes. 

Another page, a close up of Rena Rouge, and Nathaniel busted out laughing, slumping against the podium and clapping a hand to his head. “Oh my god,” he managed, shoulders shaking. “Oh my god. It’s been literally staring us in the face this whole time.” 

Marc was grinning when Nathaniel looked back at him. “Dude. Some of our best friends are literal superheroes.” 

Nathaniel shook his head in disbelief. “Who have you told?” 

“Just you,” Marc admitted, shrugging a shoulder. He glanced back over at the janitor, still sweeping. “And only because we work on the comic together, and I…I don’t know that I could have hid it from you. We can’t tell anyone else, it-”

“No, no, I know,” Nathaniel promised, sobering up a little. “We saw what happened with Chloe revealing her identity, not doing that again. Should we…tell them?” 

Marc shifted from foot to foot. “I wasn’t going to,” he said, his voice a little sheepish. He looked down, biting his lip. “But if you think we should, I’m not opposed.” 

Nathaniel hesitated. “I’m just…worried that they’ll get super nervous if they know that we know about literally all of them. Keep it to ourselves, for now?” 

Marc offered him a small smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that’d probably be best.” 

“So…we continue the comic, then?” 

“Um, yes?” Marc scoffed, folding the pages back together and clipping them back into his binder. “We just don’t let anyone see the unfinished pages anymore. Come on, this gives us MORE incentive to make it amazing. Some of our friends are literally fighting evil, and they don’t even get thanked for it. They have to do classes a-and Adrien has all his modeling and Alya runs the Ladyblog and Nino is always having to run after Alya while she does stuff for the Ladyblog and Marinette is your class rep and just…I want to do it for them,” he finished, softer. 

Nathaniel reached over and put his hand over Marc’s, smiling warmly and squeezing gently. “Hey. I do too. Come on. We have maybe twenty minutes before next period. Let’s put some masks on those sketches, mm?” 

Marc flushed, eyes flickering to Nathaniel's hand, and gave him a tiny smile. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good idea.” 

“Maybe I should just draw the masks first from now on.” 

“Can you like, physically do that?” 

“We’re gonna find out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Listen artist/writer making a comic is the most underappreciated au idea ever and Marc and Nath are literally living it man y'all sleeping on them. 
> 
> You ever wonder how many random fucking civilians know everyone's identities? The Gorilla definitely, but also like that janitor at the school that's constantly sweeping the main entry and like kicking out Nadja and shit??? He's definitely seen some shit. Those kids are the opposite of subtle.


End file.
